Analysis of corrosion in historical heritage structures. The case study of the Park Güell in Barcelona

Corrosion is a common pathology in modernist (art nouveau) structures due to the employment of metallic reinforcement in masonry or mortar elements. This pathology can be the cause of important damage. Therefore, detection of corrosion is important in the cultural heritage assessment. Moreover, these cultural heritage structures are usually fragile and must be assessed with the minimum intervention, being non-destructive test (NDT) usually applied to these studies. However, detection of corrosion using NDT is difficult and only specific zones can be analyzed. Therefore, in most cases, results are incomplete. In this study, GPR was applied to obtain information to evaluate of the corrosion damage. The application of this methodology provides results from vast areas with a fast survey acquisition. GPR, as an NDT technique, covers large areas of study while other methods are constrained to a small areas or specific points. In this paper it is presented the study of the mosaic roofs in the Park Giiell, in Barcelona. This park is one of the most key Modernista (Art Noveau) complexes in this city. It is characterized by structures with roofs and banks with tessellation. Some of these structures are most likely supported by metallic elements, and seepage cause significant damage observed over the tessellation. The objective of the study was to define the possible existence of those metallic targets, determining their location. In the case of existence of metallic elements it determines which are the zones more affected by corrosion. Results demonstrate the existence of metallic supports in many parts, as well as some defined areas that could be damaged.